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Necessities of Life

I had the great opportunity to watch Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life) while on a flight to Edmonton on the Air Canada flight. Even though the film was Canada's contender for best film in a foreign language at the Oscars this past January it had limited theater screenings and was hard to catch.

The film was just released on DVD, just in time for Aboriginal Day in Canada (celebrated June 21st). This Inuit film follows a man, Tivii (Natar Ungalaaq of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) seperated from his family in Baffin Island and sent to a sanitorium in Quebec City in the 50s. It unveils the relationship that evolves between him and a young Inuit orphan Kaki, who he decides to adopt. This heartfelt film allows one to greatly empathize with Tivii as he takes a journey so far from his home.

Love to see this movie get some love, even though it's love from Canada. It didn't make any kind of splash down here in the States, but I did review it for a film festival and it remains one of the best movies I've seen so far in 2009. It was a pretty amazing year for Best Foreign Film nominees, but this was as good as any of them.